Most institutions of higher education have some system in place for collecting student ratings of instruction (SRI) data from classes on a systematic basis. SRIs are a relatively simple way of gauging student perceptions of teaching and the course. Since the initial development of IDEA SRI in 1975, much has changed about higher education. Many…

A former Teach for America recruit who completed her training in a university-based program compares the two approaches to teacher preparation. In Teach for America, she learned how to design units and prepare lesson plans; in her university-based program, she had the time to learn from master teachers and build valuable skills, then practice…

Debate regarding the teaching of reading as skills versus reading as securing ideas has been in evidence for some time. The "measurably stated objectives" philosophy emphasizes that the act of reading should be divided into specific skills in which the inherent component parts are identified and a highly detailed list of precise objectives are…

Engagement has been viewed as an important construct to understand students' learning performances in classroom settings. Taking an interactive perspective, the study investigates ninth graders' cognitive, emotional, and behavioral engagement in teacher-centered (TC) and student-centered (SC) technology-enhanced classrooms. 54 students from two…

In answer to critics of innovative teaching methods, the author cites an exemplary performance-based program in electrical technology at Beaufort County Technical Institute (North Carolina), and concludes that in certain situations non-traditional strategies may be useful and more efficient in terms of time, students trained, and manpower…

Two methods of teaching drama as a literary form in an Introduction to Literature course were compared. Eighty-seven first-year students, 28 males and 59 females, were non-randomly assigned to four classes, two of which were taught in the traditional lecture-discussion manner while the remaining two utilized a method combining lecture-discussion…

A study was conducted to ascertain whether the use of behavioral objectives in the conduct of a child psychology course would be more effective as an instructional delivery system than the traditional lecture-centered, note-taking approach. An experimental group received instruction in child psychology by means of the behavioral objectives…

The state of the art of behavioral instruction and examples of successful implementation of behaviorally-based college teaching are provided in this book. In Chapter 1, the Personalized System of Instruction (PSI) is covered, including a discussion of the problems inherent in traditional teaching methods that led to the development of personalized…

Ways of utilizing behavioral objectives to their best advantage are specified. The purpose of the study is to help educators improve instruction through examination of different approaches to constructing behavioral objectives. Classroom teachers have been convinced that behavioral objectives are "necessary" for the functioning of the…